ProShares launched an exchange-traded fund specifically designed to benefit from the decline of bricks and mortar retailers.
The ProShares Decline of the Retail Store ETF (NYSE Arca: EMTY) is the first ETF specifically designed to benefit from the decline of bricks and mortar retailers, according to ProShares.
“Investors are witnessing signs of trouble in the malls and falling stock prices in the markets,” said Michael L. Sapir, cofounder and CEO of ProShare Advisors, LLC, the advisor to ProShares, in a statement. “For the first time, investors can turn these trends into a potential investment opportunity through an ETF.”
(Related: Passive Investing a ‘Great Way to Free Up Time’: Schwab’s Clark)
EMTY is designed to allow investors to benefit from the potential on-going erosion of value of retailers that rely principally on in-store sales. It provides consistent, daily short exposure (-1x) to the new Solactive-ProShares Bricks and Mortar Retail Store Index. The ETF is designed to deliver the inverse (opposite) of the daily performance of the index.
The Solactive-ProShares Bricks and Mortar Retail Store Index is a comprehensive, public index to be composed exclusively of traditional retailers and is intended to become the standard for measuring their performance. It is equally weighted and currently has 56 constituent companies that include department stores, supermarkets and sellers of apparel, consumer electronics and home improvement items. Current constituents include retailers such as Barnes & Noble, The Gap, Macy’s, Kroger and Best Buy.
Also launching today is ProShares Long Online/Short Stores ETF (NYSE Arca: CLIX).
CLIX aims to provide investors opportunities arising from both the potential growth of online companies and the decline of bricks and mortar retailers. It tracks the new ProShares Long Online/Short Stores Index which combines a 100% long portfolio of on-line and non-traditional retailers with a 50% short position in bricks and mortar retailers.
InvestCloud Launches Solutions to Democratize Digital and Deliver Mass Automation
FinTech firm InvestCloud released two new lines of financial apps to run on its digital platform: InvestCloud Gray and InvestCloud Neon.
InvestCloud Gray digitizes client interactions. It enables wealth managers to leverage InvestCloud’s experience to deliver digital client portals, automated and interactive client reporting and client management capabilities far more cost effectively.
In turn, clients are granted access to an online portal featuring all relevant account information, updated in real-time. The platform also provides mobility apps, allowing clients and advisors to access information, and communicate at any time, from any place and through any device.
InvestCloud Neon enables wealth managers and financial institutions to automate trading, accounting and middle-office workflows.
InvestCloud Neon supports the real-time processing of equities, bonds and funds via a completely modular set of front-, middle- and back-office apps, which aims to help businesses increase automation and reduce costs. By digitizing these functions, Neon relieves the workload on investment operations, allowing managers and advisors to focus on serving client needs. It is also multi-lingual and multi-currency, allowing it to be applied across different geographies.
Riskalyze Deepens Integration With Schwab OpenView Gateway
Riskalyze announced that both the Riskalyze and Autopilot platforms will be added to the Schwab OpenView Gateway, further expanding its integration with the custodian allowing advisors to seamlessly sync and automate accounts.
Schwab OpenView Gateway provides a flexible, open-architecture platform that enables integrations between the firm’s custody systems and participating technology providers. As part of the integration with Riskalyze and Autopilot, advisors will be able to connect their account to Schwab OpenView Gateway, allowing them to link clients between both platforms and will also update client data daily, including client profiles, accounts, balances, positions and more. In addition, Riskalyze will be able to automate trade delivery for seamless execution with Autopilot’s One-Click Fiduciary technology.
The integration and features will be available to Schwab and Riskalyze advisors in the first quarter of 2018.
eMoney Advisor Announces Three New Upcoming Integrations